Hosken-News Blog: July 2018

Sunday, July 29, 2018

Moving From "I Can't" to "I Won't" to "I Did It!"

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

I did it! This photo is on our Agape Resatoration Society "Homes and Jobs" web-page (scroll down there to print it). We've just added a "1-Minute Slide Show" button there that flips through all of the witty sayings on that web-page. Lots of our job counseling clients and others have printed out copies of this clever photo for themselves. Why do you think they did?

Because in a humorous way, it illustrates some rather important spiritual truths: When confronted with a difficult or even life-threatening situation, many people will at first withdraw into their shells and say - "I can't do anything about it!" That shell might be overeating, which gives you a warm, comfortable, full feeling. Or it might be smoking or drinking - taking in addictive substances that temporarily make you feel relaxed, or sexual addictions, or other harmful habits that in the end can disable or kill you. Then the person says - "I'm not doing anything wrong!" (confusing what's legal with what's immoral) or "I'm not ready to stop yet!" (I'll die with a cigarette in my mouth) or "I can't stop!" - they're hooked. They refuse to change because they're convinced they can't... but actually...

...what they're thinking deep down inside, perhaps even subconsciously, is "I won't!" They prefer that pleasant feeling rather than facing the plain fact that they're harming or killing themselves by their habits. The word "won't" is a shortened form of "will not" - in other words, deep down inside they're saying to themselves - "I flat-out will not, I do not want to change! I refuse!" This is very much like the people in the book of Revelation -

"The rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they would not worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk. They did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their sexual immorality, nor of their thefts" (Rev. 9:20-21).

Also, "People were scorched with great heat, and people blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues. They did not repent and give Him glory. The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened. They gnawed their tongues because of the pain, and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. They did not repent of their works" (Rev. 16:9-11).

To repent is not merely to feel sorry for your wrong actions, like - "I'm sorry I got caught!" No, repentance means change, conversion, turning around, doing a 180-degree about-face and going in the opposite direction, away from those harmful, sinful behaviors.

In two places in the Gospels, Mark 10:46-52 and Luke 18:35-43, we read how, when Jesus was going through Jericho, He encountered a blind beggar who called out - "Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!" This man recognized his problem and called out to the "son of David" - the Messiah, the Son of God: "Help me!" Then Jesus ordered that the blind man be brought to Him.

"When he had come near, Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do?' He said, 'Lord, that I may see again.' Jesus said to him, 'Receive your sight. Your faith has healed you.' Immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. All the people, when they saw it, praised God" (Luke 18:40b-43).

I can imagine Jesus looking deep into the blind man's heart: "What do you really want? Do you just want to keep on begging? Or do you really want to see again?" Then the blind beggar answered - "Lord, I really do want to see again! I want to be healed!" Jesus recognized this man's faith in his desire to be healed, so He said - "Receive your sight. Your faith has healed you."

Do you really want to be healed, cured of that gluttony habit, that smoking habit, that alcoholic drinking habit, that sexual addiction habit? Or are you too fond of the pleasureful feelings those harmful, sinful habits provide? Are you saying in your heart - "I won't stop!" or are you saying - "I want to change! How do I do it? I'll try to do it!" The Lord Jesus Christ can and will heal you, but only if you are willing to call out to Him - "Lord, have mercy on me!" - to change and give it a try.

Change is hard. Old habits are like ruts in a dirt road: it takes a mighty turn of the steering wheel and holding on tight to break out of the ruts. But change is possible. It takes 6-8 weeks to fully replace an old, bad habit with a new, good habit. Never say - "I just can't do it!" You can... if you will! Just say - "Lord, have mercy on me and heal me!" ...and really mean it, with all your heart.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 29 Jul. 2018.)

To keep our websites free,
please Support Agape Restoration Society: click on the "DONATE" button there.
Also, please Share Our Vision with your family & friends.
And shop at our Amazon.com Store too: when you purchase an item
using our link, a few percents are credited to our affiliate account.

Saturday, July 14, 2018

Givers and Takers

Givers and Takers There are actually more than two kinds of people: some people are "matchers" - they strive to give back to society for all the good things and experiences that God has given them. This is what the Apostle Paul wrote about in 2 Corinthians 8:13-15 - "For this is not that others may be eased and you distressed, but for equality. Your abundance at this present time supplies their lack, that their abundance also may become a supply for your lack; that there may be equality. As it is written, 'He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.'"

We all know that a growing number of people nowadays are taking more from society than they give. Why is this? Obviously, Christian morality teaches us to care for "the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind, for widows and orphans." The idea of voluntary sharing one's possessions comes from Christ's teaching in the Gospels, in Acts ch. 2:44-45 and ch. 4:32-35. It should be noted that these texts use the continuing, imperfect verb tense that indicates a gradual and unfinished action. It was also voluntary, not the forced confiscation as in modern communism or state taxation. The incident with Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-10 teaches us clearly that this married couple had the right to voluntarily give as much or as little of their goods as they chose, but their sin was that they tried to cheat the Lord by pretending to give all the money from the sale of their property... however, they kept back a part of the money.

So it is today: it's easy to fool the government. There are millions of people in modern society who have learned how to pretend, how to "work the system." They pretend to be poor or sick or disabled so they can apply for government benefits or private charity. Millions of people in the U.S. are receiving Social Security Disability payments simply because their unemployment benefits ran out or a doctor was willing for a fee to write that they are disabled. The problem here is that after a while the role we play becomes who we really are: the fake disability becomes a real disability. Their bodies get fat and weak and their minds go to seed.

This isn't only a U.S. phenomenon: when we lived in Russia we met many disabled people who refused to get retrained so they could earn at least a partial living. And we met others, young people who continued living with their parents and wouldn't look for a job. Some had been unemployed for a long time and had fallen into the bad habit of watching TV until the wee hours of the morning, sleeping in until noon, and staying in their pajamas or underwear all day. A common expression was - "we have unlearned how to work."

Last autumn I wrote an essay "Many Want To Be Transformed, Few Want To Change!" Here are just a couple paragraphs from it:

St. Paul wrote - "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we instructed you; that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and may have need of nothing" (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12). "The Christian life is by its very nature a growth process analogous to the growth of the body; perfection in good habits ought to grow as faith grows" - so wrote St. Clement of Alexandria. Good habits take effort and practice, they don't come automatically.

Again, St. Paul wrote - "For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: 'If anyone will not work, don’t let him eat.' For we hear of some who walk among you in rebellion, who don't work at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are that way, we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread" (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12). It is contrary to God's Word that we give food to people who refuse to work, or even look for a job. Many want to be transformed, but few want to change!

Read the whole thing! We can easily imagine ourselves as saints or as geniuses or as millionaires who just won the lottery. But it's not easy to actually become a saint or a genius... and the probability of winning the lottery is much less than the probability of being struck by lightning... we prefer, however, to think the former will happen to us rather than the latter. As long as it remains just wishful thinking, hoping that God will send an angel with a magic wand who'll wave it and make us a saint or an instant millionaire, nothing will really happen. It takes years of work and struggles to reach those goals.

Change comes hard: especially as we grow older, the neural pathways in our brains get etched deeper and deeper. We want to drive somewhere new but our old brain takes over and drives us to our habitual destination. We want to stand up and do some simple exercises but our body refuses - it stays on the couch and our eyes stay fixed on the TV or our body stays on the chair and our eyes stay fixed on the computer. I just got a "standing desk" last week so I can get off my butt and begin to think more clearly and act more decisively while I'm working at the computer.

The prophet Hosea wrote - "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to kindness. Break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until He comes and rains righteousness on you. You have plowed wickedness. You have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies" (ch. 10:12-13). Let's stop deceiving ourselves, let's take the necessary actions to change. It's time for us to become givers, not takers; saints, not sinners. The Greek word for repentance is "metanoia" - changing direction 180 degrees, turning our life around. That's real change. It's called conversion.

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 14 Jul. 2018.)